Josh "Team Fist Shakers: Get Off My Lawn!" R.'s Profile

Good lunch sammiches, nice people watching from the outdoor seating, and friendly wait staff. The bloody marys were "meh," and without any celery (!), but I'm also pretty picky about a good one. I want to go back and get some of the more Greek fare. The grilled octopus looked as good as up at Taverna Kyclades.

I just found this cute little coffee shop that opened up one month ago while looking for a parking spot early this morning. The yummy egg sandwiches come on brioche buns, which are soft and delicious, the $1 coffee is quite good (not weak lamesauce coffee) and the smoothies are fresh and tasty. The sandwich offerings look good and I'll have to come back to try them.

The small cafe has a few seating options and mainly seems to get foot traffic of local coffee getters on their way to the subway.

But my favorite thing about Munch is that it's family owned and operated by the friendliest group of relatives I've met in a while. After I ordered and sat with my food and coffee, I stuck around to read my book and wound up chatting a little with the owner and his son, who primarily run the place. Other family members also share in store tasks and all contribute to making this cozy little space feel like what I imagine Old New York to be: friendly family owned stores where strangers quickly become friends; where community members care and look out for each other and talk about more than just the crazy thunderstorm that night.

Before I left, they asked me my name. Maybe it's just smart business to know your customers, and to try to get them to come back after just a first visit, but it's also nice to have a place that wants to foster such goodwill a few blocks from where you live. Not everyone goes that extra mile, and for that, along with the good food, I give this place 5 stars.

Just a note: Dart League night is now Monday AND Tuesday nights. Pool league too.

Dear Yelp: I've been remiss in my reviews lately, namely, in not writing any. But if you'll have me back, and stop trying to get me sloppy drunk and groping me, then maybe this can work. In that spirit, let's do a non-drunk brunch, ok?

My Brunch experience here yesterday was fantastic and I feel bad for all those people who didn't get it. Perhaps it once was bad, but this Sunday, there was nothing I could complain about.

We got there in early afternoon and the place was packed. There were 3 couples waiting in front of us, but we were told the wait would only be 5-10 min. I was skeptical, but those tables turned over fairly quickly. Seems a bunch of people were finishing up at that time, and the staff was on top of it. 12 min later, we were seated. Pretty quick, n'est pas?

The menu had too many things I wanted to try and I need to come back just to keep my stomach from rebelling against me for life. The Large OJ was sooo delicious, and I drank it sooo quickly. Ok, I'm slightly annoyed for it being called Large, but only being a mere normal size. Unlike the coffee, which was large and bottomless. Our Authentic French Waitress  was so attentive to my coffee that I had to stop her the third time. It wasn't overbearing, but I can't have 3 coffees and not bounce off the walls.

I got the French Toast. YOU GET THE FRENCH TOAST!

My words will utterly fail to convey the impact it will have on your life. If Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat French Toast from Cafe Henri," France might still be a monarchy. If Napoleon Bonaparte had this French Toast in the morning, he might have thought twice about marching into the frozen Russian tundras. Mel Brooks bribed Marcel Marceau to break his vow of silence with this French Toast, and it worked: this French Toast will save families, end wars and stop annoying mimes. How, you ask? It is the perfect combination of light and soft with a slightly crunchy crust. It has a sprinkling of crushed almonds, mint, and some white powdery magical substance they call sugar, but I know is pure mind melting awesomeness. (Hey, I told you my words wouldn't covey the import of this French Toast - so just trust me, OK?).

Don't even get me started on the bacon (why only 2 strips of this in-your-mouth melting goodness, cooked not too crispy, not too flimsily!?!?!) or the rosemary seasoned potatoes.

My friend had the Eggs Benedict. I don't like Hollandaise sauce. I don't like poached eggs. I really liked them yesterday morning though, that's how good this food was.

Next up: Crepes, mussels, Croc Madame, and the rest of the menu. I am on a mission.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this place a 6.25, which roughly translates to whatever I put above in Yelpalese. I would definitely come back, but I also know better places that are just as cheap or cheaper even closer to where I live. And in Astoria, relation to where you live is key.

Thurs night they currently have a happy hour recession special burger for $4. Which would have been GREAT!, had the pricing started before 8pm. I got there at 6pm. I wound up splitting the wings with my friend, and they were spot on good, but the $4 burger was in the peak of my mind, as I was misled by the sign outside. I didn't get any special deal on the beer, but apparently, a different night of the week has $3 pints and $10 pitchers. I think it was Tues. I will have to go back one Tues, get a pitcher, and report back. Hopefully I show up at whatever magic hour the special is at.

The crowd was all into keeping to themselves, they had a different basketball game on every television, and the wait staff was attentive.

The neighborhood has better bars, but it also has much worse. I will come back, but it's not the neighborhood place I would come to alone to hang out.

I walked in and saw the bar. Actually, all the beer behind the bar. And then I heard music. From deep within my childhood, I heard:

"The Hills Are Aliive, With The Sound of Muuuuusiiiiiiiiic."

Because although I can't carry a tune, I sing in my head. A lot. Especially when I am overjoyed. And maybe drunk. In a Austrian looking beer hall.

A 6-pack of beer for $6? I saw this while standing on the line, which moved at a decent clip, despite being long. OK, I'll try it.
::takes sip::
Yumm.
::Finishes 6pack::
oh tRaider jose (hic), you know what? (hic) KNow what?? Know WhaT? I (hic) love you.

Bleeker Street Bar has a special place in my heart, despite its numerous drawbacks.

For one, two of the three dart boards are not up to standard. They are worn out and just plain need to be replaced. The darts will fall out of certain spots, particularly the bulls eyes. They do get a lot of use since this is a league bar (not my team's, but one of our opponents' - and many non-league players come here to play), but that is an even better reason to up and replace them: clearly they are drawing a crowd.

Also, depending on the night, the some people in the crowd can be obnoxious: I avoid this place on weekends. Usually, this is the exception and not the norm, but even on the weekdays, you will find the stiletto heeled ladies pretending to be 10 years younger than they are screaming at the top of their lungs when they land that third 15 they needed to win cricket after several turns. Now, I'm not trying to be a dart newbie hater (I started out somewhere too), but that crap is seriously distracting when I am trying to aim and throw. And that dart area gets cramped like a quintuplet mom's uterus after some serious IVF. So if you go, have a good time, but try to also respect the people around you. You know, common sense/decency. Look where you are walking so you don't get hit by a flying barb, and you'll be fine.

But the prices here are pretty fair, if you come on a weekday, you can usually get a seat somewhere and the bartenders are nice (someone spilled my friend's drink over and they replaced it for him for free - OK OK, it was me! The edge of that table just crept up on me while I was backing away from the stiletto woman's banshee shriek). They check up on you, and serve with a smile: that's all this guy needs to be happy with a bartender, anything more is just cake.

The beer selection is pretty great and they have decent happy hour specials, although what they are escape me. It's good enough that to figure it out now, I would have me look at my credit card slip and do math. No thanks, I don't like math.

I am also a big fan of the jukebox selection and the random music that comes on. A lot of Tom Petty style classic rock, some 80s and 90s hits, and if one of my friends comes along, some girlie "jams" that she gets so excited about that I just have to laugh at her jumping up and down gleefully (sans banshee shrieks of course). Once, she put Kelly Clarkson on and a bunch of girls in the booth started singing along and outdoing my friend. Funny for four minutes, but thankfully, those are usually rare.

I always have a decent time when I come here. Most of the people playing darts are friendly and you can get an inter-group game going. Buck Hunter is fun, and I know they have pool in the back. Honestly, if they just replaced the shoddy dart boards, I might give this place 5 stars.

You are effing up my freelancing lifestyle. If I have to get a real job, Imma hurt someone.

RadTech is an online store that sells Apple accessories and great bluetooth wireless mice, which is what I have. And while their products are very good, what really sets them apart is their customer service.

Despite being an internet company, they operate like a small mom n' pop - which I say as a compliment. While my bluetooth mouse was still under warranty, it stopped working. I emailed their customer support (who for all I know is just one great guy named John - he's the only person I ever had to deal with). Based on my email address from the email I sent him, he knew what product I had purchased, and where I was located. He looked up when I purchased the mouse, and started helping me, via email, within minutes. We trouble-shot the problem for a couple of days, and then determined I should send the item in for service as a last resort. I only had to pay to ship it to them, they took care of the rest by sending me a brand new replacement. When it came in, John helped me set it back up and now I am good to go again.

It's detailed customer service like this, even through impersonal internet communications, that determine whether I really want to give companies not only my business, but my stamp of approval for others to see.